Kent 50 Mile Time Trial -- Preview

Sometimes when I read race blogs written after the fact, I wonder how skewed the author's memory is by the race itself. I thought I would do things a little differently than usual for this blog post. Ordinarily I would write about my training, goal and race after the event, but this time I'm going to post some information prior to the race, and write another post after.

The reason for my doing this is to provide you, dear reader, with information as to how I plan and prepare for a time trial, should that be of any interest to you. If not, it might well be an eye-opening insight, for me at least, as to how my preparation affects race performance without the rose-tinted glasses confusing matters.

Recovery

After my 100 I took a few weeks of reduced mileage, doing a few workouts here and there, racing if I felt like it and just generally trying to get rid of the fatigue. I had probably done too much too early in the season and I could feel I had overreached, a clear warning sign that burnout could follow if not careful.

Planning

Once recovered, at least partially, I put three dates in the diary for key events: a 50 on August 11; a 10 on Sept 1; a 25 on Sept 22. Conveniently these were three weeks apart which would give me a good chance to recover and get some decent event-specific training done in the interim.

I don't know how much difference specific training makes but, for example, I have done very little training at threshold this year, so a 25 would be a shock to the system. I had planned to complete a couple of 2x20' at 25m TT wattage in the two weeks prior to the 25 on Sept 22, but I have been in contact with a coach so that may or may not now happen. More to come on the coaching decision and how it pans out in future...

My style of planning training is to make it up as I go along, using educated guesses based on information that I have read on forums, listened to on podcasts and gleaned from fellow riders. It has served me fairly well so far but I realise this method has drawbacks and I can imagine I am not far from my limit in terms of how fast I can get without direct outside assistance.

Training

I felt confident the training that had served me well for the 100 would transfer nicely to the 50 distance. As with the training for the 100, I performed regular 'race-pace' intervals in preparation for the 50. Prior to using a power meter, that was around the middle of sweetspot, roughly 169bpm and I would aim to keep my heart rate between 164 and 174 for these intervals.

(I know a lot of people dismiss heart rate as a training tool, but I disagree. If used smartly, it can be very useful. I rode through a 7 mile Strava segment that took ~17' twice: one with just heart rate; and once with just power a month later. The difference was 13 seconds. I imagine I started too hard during the HR interval, but I think it still shows using HR is a good alternative to power, especially to somebody new to structured training who can't afford a power meter.)

Power

Now that I have access to a power meter on my TT bike, and having performed a FTP test, I came up with a figure of 270 watts for the race-specific efforts. This equates to approximately 90% of threshold. Of the intervals I have performed, my hardest session last weekend featured 75 minutes at this effort, with a short five minute break in the middle, and a max effort hill sprint, at 380 watts, immediately after. I am confident I will be able to maintain 270 watts for the duration.

The Goal

The target for this 50 is 1:55 as that works out to approximately 26mph (it's 1:55:23 exactly). I read somewhere that from 10-100 events your speed should drop off 1mph. So 25mph for a 100, 26 for a 50, 27 for a 25 and 28 for a 10. (Incidentally that means 55:33 for a 25 *gulp* -- I've already done 28.3mph for a 10 😜).

Spindata have predicted me to finish 15th in 1:56:01

The Route

Hardcore fans of the blog (hello Mum) might recognise the route as being essentially the same as the 100 and you'd be pretty much right. Well done. Starting and finishing in Hamstreet, you do two CCW loops of Brenzett-Rye-Camber-Lydd-Brenzett. 

Weather conditions

The weather looks fair: 16 degrees, overcast, 13mph west south westerly meaning headwind from the start to Rye, crosswind to Camber, tailwind to Lydd, cross-tail to New Romney, cross-head to Brenzett and, crucially, a bit of assistance on the home straight! I'd much prefer it that way around.

(If somebody could arrange a tractor travelling at a steady 30mph leaving Brenzett at around 7.22am, heading towards Rye, that'd be great.)

Flat as a pheasant

Pacing

As for the pacing strategy, although I now have power data available, I don't want to spend the race staring at my computer. I will aim to keep the effort steady, with a bit of extra effort during the headwind sections and backing off slightly when the wind's at my back. My provisional aim is 285 watts when fighting a headwind, and 255 watts with the tailwind.

Position

I have had a bike fit since the 100 so it'll be interesting to see how holding the new, more comfortable position is and, crucially, whether it's more or less aerodynamic. We shall see. One thing I will aim to do is to tuck my shoulders in and keep my chin forward. A friend gave me that advice and it makes a big difference to the frontal area. I'm not sure what chance I have of holding that position for two hours, but if it's too hard to hold, I'll just make the effort during the headwind section to minimise my drag and "relax" in my standard position for the other parts of the course.

My annual turbo session

Taper

The month leading up to this week has been pretty heavy. 200-260 miles for the first three weeks, followed by 325 miles last week including four commutes to/from Paddington and two hard rides on the weekend. There's something quite satisfying about burying yourself on the approach to a week of tapering. I was not feeling sprightly on Monday morning.

In the past I have responded well to dropping my training to around 60% of peak week, so the taper will consist of the following:

Mon -- day off

Tue -- easy commute there and back with some intensity on the way home

Wed -- day off

Thu -- Club 10 (I would prefer to do 2x20 at, or above, race pace. Alas.)

Fri -- same as Tue

Sat -- off or openers, one hour ride consisting of a few sprints, spin ups, couple of short race pace efforts

Sun -- race

Warmup

Will likely be in and around the Hamstreet area working from easy up to race pace, and a couple minutes above. Something like 15' easy, 2' z3, 2' sweetspot/race pace, 1' z4, 1' z5, 2' easy, couple of sprints, ride to the start line. This is an area that I could definitely improve by being more consistent.

Nutrition/Hydration

Very simple: Gel every thirty minutes, one litre of fluid. I'll have a gel before the start and make sure I'm fully hydrated too. Gels will be under the legs of my skinsuit and I'll carry the bottle on the downtube of the bike (I did think about experimenting with a Camelbak in the front of my skinsuit but opted against). At the time of writing I haven't got a one litre bottle, only 750ml, so I need to find one. A 750ml bottle on the frame and a 500ml bottle stashed down the front of my skinsuit might be an option if my laziness prevents me from acquiring a new bottle.

What next?

I'll report back with what happened during the race and my candid opinion about what went right/wrong, and if I failed to meet my target, why I felt that happened, and if I achieve the 1:55 goal, what I did right to get there.

Thanks for reading.